Overview

War

An FBI agent whose partner and family were killed by a notorious assassin sets out for revenge as the elusive triggerman sparks a sprawling gang war between the triads and the yakuza in the feature debut from prolific music video director Phillip Atwell. FBI sgent Jack Crawford (Jason Statham) is a man driven by vengeance. After his partner, Tom Lone (Terry Chen), and his family fell to bullets fired by infamous hitman Rogue (Jet Li), Crawford makes it his life mission to ferret out the slippery killer. Complications arise when it begins to appear as if Rogue has a mission of his own to carry out, and as triad boss Chang (John Lone) prepares for all-out war against yakuza boss Shiro (Ryo Ishibashi), Crawford and Rogue also come face to face as the secrets of the past emerge in a hail of gunfire.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

I was expecting a great showdown of martial art mayhem between Jet Li and Jason Statham. What you get is a somewhat compelling story that has a great twist at the end that you never see coming. War contains some great action scenes and moments of "I can't believe they just did that!". The extras on the DVD are okay. Deleted scenes don't include anything outstanding and are probably only a little over a minute long all together.

Guest

More than 1 year ago

WAR sets up the viewer with promises (Jason Statham, Jet Li in his first movie as a straight actor i.e. post-martial arts), but for the most part those promises are not delivered. What is put on the screen for what seems like an endless evening is more killing with guns, knives, fire, explosions, and every other kind of death device imaginable delivered by minimal story and substandard acting. It is loud, gory, and boring - until the final few minutes when the story actually gains a plot. Lee Anthony Smith and Gregory J. Bradley came up with a minimal tale taking place in San Francisco, a rivalry between a Chinese gang and a Japanese gang, peppered by revenge, contraband goods, and a hefty dose of non-balletic fighting. Jason Statham sleepwalks his way through his role as FBI agent Jack Crawford with an attitude and a grudge, assisted by his partner Special Agent Wick (given a nice turn by Mathew St. Patrick of 'Six Feet Under') and Benny (the always fine character actor Luis Guzm&#225;n, even here!). The head of the wealthy Chang gang (John Lone of 'The Last Emperor') is obtaining a prize antiquity from Japan's Shiro Yanagawa (Ryo Ishibashi) and gang and Rogue (Jet Li) is the agent. After what seems like hours of car chases, motorcycle chases, constant killing, beheadings, sleazy tearoom scenes, etc the identity of the Rogue (apparently much changed by multiple plastic surgeons who likewise loose their lives...) is made clear - a fact that provides some answers to Agent Jack's grumpy personality. This is a film without a core and one that is easy to understand its box office failure. And unless the viewer is in need of a 103 minutes of steady violence, this film is a must miss - even for fans of Statham and Li. Grady Harp